The Voice of the People: Riskology.co Survey Results

Welcome Pick the Brain readers! Thanks for coming over from my guest article, You Already Have the Life You Want. I’m excited to have you around.

Two weeks ago, I held the first ever reader survey here at Riskology.co. Thanks so much to everyone that took the time to fill it out and share their thoughts with me.

My strategy to make sure I was able to give a lot of attention to everyone’s answers was to only allow 100 responses before I closed it down. Being the first survey we’ve done here, I wasn’t sure if I’d even get 100 takers, but less than 24 hours after launching, it was full!

You guys blow me away every day. Thanks for reading and being such a big part of the community here.

I got a lot of great feedback and, as I was going through it, I thought it would be a real shame to keep it all to myself. So, I thought I’d give you a little overview of what people are thinking and share some of my favorite responses because there were some really good ones.

In 1-2 sentences, why do you read Riskology.co?

I asked this question because it’s important for me to hear it straight from your mouth rather than just guess. I know exactly why I write AR, but that doesn’t mean it’s the same reason you read it.

The general feeling I got here was that most people read for motivation and inspiration. Perfect. Those are two things the world always needs more of. I also got the feeling that about half of you are here to learn something new and half just like having a community of people that think like them. They’re here for solidarity. That’s a good mix and means that there are just as many potential “teachers” as there are “students.”

Here are a few of my favorite responses to this question:

I read Riskology.co to remind myself that I am not the only person in this world who wants to jump a freight train.

I like to be challenged to break out of the mold.  I enjoy reading about people who are also living life on the edge and I like practical ideas about how to make it work.

I like the well-written articles that challenge me to do more than just live.

Reading Riskology.co makes me feel like I’ve finally found the group that won’t question why I decided to take surf lessons one day and create a cupcake business the next.

I’m looking for remarkable people to connect with.

Can you describe yourself in just 1 sentence?

More than just why you read, I wanted to know who you are, in the briefest and most direct way that you could describe yourself.

A few people said there’s no way they could describe themselves in a single sentence, but I appreciate those who did and what I learned is that you guys are extremely diverse. You come from all kinds of different backgrounds, you work in all sorts of different professions, and you’re all pursuing some very different, but very ambitious goals. I think that’s fantastic.

Here are a few that stood out to me:

I’m a knitter – I eat, sleep, breathe and think knitting, and truly believe that hand-knits will change the world.

I’m an Architect and backpacking traveler that loves to take challenges.

I am a helper who is sometimes afraid to admit she needs help too.

I am a 70 year old widow and I am going to live in all ways before I leave this planet.  Whoopee!

I’m the burnout mark on the blacktop 10 meters behind a speeding ’67 Trans Am, pondering how to peel myself off the road like my childhood cartoon characters did.

What’s the riskiest thing you really want to do in your life right now?

I asked this question because I wanted to know more about the personal challenges that you guys are working on or interested in doing.

With the diversity of responses to the first few questions, I expected the same here but, actually, about 90% of you said roughly the same thing:

“I want to quit my job and do something more meaningful.”

Wow. I knew a few of you would answer that way, but I had no idea that was so important to so many of you. I’ll be keeping this in mind as I work up new topics to write about.

A number of you also mentioned that you want to start a business, travel more, or do some kind of extreme sport.

Here are a few answers I thought were fun:

Write about knitting for a living.

Open a Korean spa.

Live out of an RV.

Find a date to homecoming!

Start a cupcakery.

Other Odds and Ends

 

I learned a few other really valuable things about you guys through this survey, also.

I learned that, even though the site is only 4 months old, most people who took the survey had been reading for more than 2 months. I suppose that makes sense though. If I had just found a new site, I probably wouldn’t feel connected enough to take a survey because I wouldn’t feel like I’d have much to contribute yet.

I also learned that about 50% of you would really like to see a discussion forum on the site where you could hang out and get to know other risk-takers. I think that would be a blast and I’ll probably implement something like that once Riskology.co gets a little bit bigger. That shouldn’t be too hard to do, and those that aren’t interested probably won’t even notice it’s there.

One other thing I learned that I had been slowly starting to realize but hadn’t really struck me yet is that a large portion of the readership here is considerably older than me (I’m 25). I think that is so cool because from the very beginning, I wanted Riskology.co to be a place that spoke to a wide range of people, not just 20-somethings.

I’m really glad to know that we have some other age ranges represented here because the experience and insight that you guys can provide is invaluable. So thanks for showing up!

Most of all, thanks to everyone that completed the survey. I really appreciate your input.

Here’s what to do next:

If you didn’t get a chance to respond to this survey, or if you want to do so publicly, I think it would be neat to see what everyone’s response is to the second question above:

Can you describe yourself in just 1 sentence?

Here’s my answer: I’m a writer that helps people live more interesting lives by taking bigger risks.

What’s your answer? Let me know in the comments.

***

By the way, my friend, Corbett Barr, whose Affiliate Marketing for Beginners course I’ve promoted around here before as a great tool for learning how to monetize a website just released an awesome (and completely free) manifesto, 18 Months, 2 Blogs, Six Figures. It’s exactly what it sounds like. Corbett talks all about the strategies he used to turn his 2 blogs into a full-time income in a year and half. No hype, no BS – just real stuff that actually works. Check it out.

~~~~~

Image by Lincolnian